Couple escape explosion at Caneadea home

CANEADEA — Two North Dam Road residents got out unhurt Wednesday when an explosion and fire destroyed their home.

Robert Weed and his wife, Michelle, were asleep at a little after 3 a.m. when the explosion occurred at 8984 N. Dam Road off of state Route 243, said county Office of Emergency Services Director and Fire Coordinator Jeff Luckey.

“It exploded first. It was an explosion that startled them, woke them up. After the explosion, the smoke alarms went off. They exited the house,”?he said.

Robert Weed said, “My wife and I were in there and we were sleeping. Our bed went up 4 feet in the air and slammed back down. We were walking on broken glass and we got out without a scratch.

“There was broken glass and debris everywhere,”?he said.

Weed said he and Michelle did not have any pets. The garage was destroyed as well. “I?bought my wife an SUV?(sport-utility vehicle) for Christmas. It was in the garage,”?he said. “It was totaled. It had 300 miles on it.”

Luckey said the cause and origin of the fire were undetermined. The investigation officially remains open, he said.

Luckey the Weeds went to a neighbor’s house to call 911. County dispatchers got the call at 3:16 a.m. The last units were back in service at 1:56 p.m.

“The investigation is still going on. We haven’t determined that (the origin) yet,”?he said Wednesday morning. “We’re in the beginning stages of the investigation. We haven’t ruled anything out yet.”

Houghton Fire Chief Norm Smithley said Houghton, Oramel and Rushford fire departments were initially called to the scene.

“Everybody pretty much arrived at the same time,”?Smithley said. “Later on, they called Fillmore and Belfast for mutual aid.

“The house was fully involved. We started the attack with two pumpers — one from Rushford and one from?Houghton. The other departments had tankers and supplied water. We fully extinguished the fire with Houghton’s arial ladder. There was no interior firefighting.” Smithley said as far as he knew, no one was injured or evaluated on scene.

“We never had to go back. It was totally extinguished when we left,”?he said. “Everybody worked very hard to get it out as fast as possible.”

County dispatchers said Wiscoy-Rossburg and Belmont firefighters were also called, as were Belfast and Houghton ambulances.